The question “What would you do when you win the jackpot ?” regularly comes up in interviews. The answers usually contain a house, a holiday, a car, no longer working, charity, ‘something for my family’, saving, investing and sometimes also a big party. Buying art is not mentioned frequently as an answer. Maybe you need to be rich for a longer time to consider it, since it functions less as an “instant satisfier”.

The Mauritshuis in The Hague currently has the entire collection of Eijk and Rose-Marie de Mol van Otterloo on show. Eijck de Mol van Otterloo is the “O” in GMO, a global investment management firm with more than $104 billion in client assets. The collection of paintings of the Dutch Golden Age was meant for the house of the couple, however has never been together before this exhibition.

In the short film that can be seen at the exhibition, Mr and Mrs de Mol van Otterloo explain their decision to “go public” instead of lending the works as anonymous private collectors by their desire to receive feedback from the public and art critics. In addition, they feel that this exhibition helps them to determine the future of their collection. The film also contains a call to owners of paintings by Pieter de Hooch and Gerard ter Borch to discuss a potential sale to the collecting couple.